


Tell Him I Can't Do It

by voleuse



Category: Farscape
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-09
Updated: 2009-11-09
Packaged: 2017-10-04 01:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>I go home to write the goddamn poem. </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Him I Can't Do It

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 1.06. Title and summary adapted from Jennifer Gravley's _In addition to the rent_.

_"Oh, she thinks she's a scientist now. False superiority!"  
"I am not a scientist. I am, however, what I have always been, and that is superior."_

Aeryn dropped the worm into the designated drain, wrinkling her nose as it wriggled. She hoped Moya had some sort of disposal processor along the worm's way, as she gathered the insertion was as unpleasant as the extraction, and knowing D'Argo, he would demand she perform all worm-related duties, just because she had done it once before.

She scrubbed her palms against her trousers and picked up her pulse pistol, touching her tongue to the clip.

"Officer Sun," Pilot said, his image blurring into focus. "The tannot root has been secured in one of Moya's cargo holds, as you requested."

"Thank you, Pilot," she responded. "I believe we should be well supplied for a cycle, at least."

"For so long?" Pilot queried.

Aeryn frowned. "If we are able to render the chakan oil correctly." She sighed. "Perhaps we don't have the proper equipment."

"You are welcome to use any of Moya's tools," Pilot said. "If you will provide me with the specifications, I might be able to locate what you require."

"But I don't _know_," Aeryn said. She set her pistol down; it clanged against the table. "The techs brought us the oil, and the chemicals, and the tools."

Pilot's image blinked at her. "You were quite adept in adapting to the tools needed to assist the Dominar," he said. He tapped his carapace with a single claw, twice. "If you would like, we can discuss possible procedures."

Aeryn folded her arms, considering.

"Or perhaps you would rather Crichton--"

"No, Pilot," Aeryn interrupted. "Your help would be...appreciated. I just find such tasks--"

"Challenging?" Pilot suggested.

"Demeaning," Aeryn corrected, straightening her shoulders.

Pilot's image watched her.

Aeryn picked up her pistol again, and checked the level of oil. Half-full. She looked up, and Pilot still flickered in front of her.

"This is," she paused. "This is all very new to me, Pilot."

"It is new to me, as well," Pilot responded. "Perhaps we could discuss the rendering later?"

"Yes," Aeryn said. "Later."

Pilot's image wavered, then disappeared, and only then did Aeryn brace her arms against the table, slamming the pistol twice against the tabletop again.

*

 

Aeryn set the tannot root onto the table with a _thunk_, then dusted her hands against her trousers. "Pilot?"

The display was fuzzy--somewhere in the next system, there was a solar flare--but Pilot's image soon blinked at her. "Yes, Officer Sun?"

She placed a hand on the tannot root. "I have entered the weight and density of the tannot root into the database," she reported. "I would like to review a list of tools that might allow us to render the oil efficiently."

"Ah." Pilot's image glanced downwards, arms swaying just beneath the display's boundaries. "You should have direct access to the specifications now."

Aeryn glanced at the scroll of numbers. "Pilot?"

"Yes, Officer Sun?"

"If you would review the list with me--"

Pilots did not smile, Aeryn knew from a thousand lessons, but nevertheless, this one did.

"Of course," he said. "Where should we begin?"

*

 

"Aeryn?" Zhaan glided into the workspace, but Aeryn didn't bother glancing up. "Will you be joining us for the meal?"

"Perhaps," Aeryn grunted. "I might be late."

Zhaan came to a halt in front of the table. She stared at the chunks of tannot root, the oil-smeared implements strewn across the table. "My dear, whatever are you doing?"

Aeryn looked up then, pushing a lock of hair from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Rendering."

Zhaan raised an eyebrow. "Obviously." She picked up a ragged piece of root, then set it down again. "I had no idea you were so talented."

Aeryn sliced into another tannot root, then picked up a hammer and press. "There are many things you don't know about me, Zhaan."

"I am sure of that," Zhaan replied, chuckling. "I'll ensure Rygel does not consume your share of the rations."

Aeryn crushed the root, scooping the pulp into a sieve. "Thank you," she said, almost without noticing.

"My pleasure," Zhaan said, and if she sounded surprised, Aeryn ignored it.


End file.
